Everything Now made me a fan of Arcade Fire, they’re a band that I’ve never really gotten into with their folky-jazz infused sound never pushing my buttons. However, my Dad’s always been a fan so I had to get these tickets for him for Christmas. I’ve probably never waited so long for a gig, I booked these in July LAST YEAR! I’ve never seen a gig in the round neither so I was extra buzzing for that.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t rounded off the seats in the Genting Arena so the seat still all pointed to where a stage should be and we were seated right next to where the stage usually is. There wasn’t a worse seat in the house, we would have ruined our necks hadn’t it be for the whole venue seating. Nonetheless, luckily we missed the Jazz band support act and waited in anticipation for the main event. There was 4 large screens above each side of the boxing ring of a stage which spontaneously had a Texan man come on and begin to get the crowd riled up every now and then.
Eventually, the lights dimmed and the screens lit up with a televised boxing show, and videos of the band walking to the stage as they strolled out of where the stage should be and walked through the screaming crowd in boxing robes. They opened with their storming hit “Everything Now” which got the crowd up and dancing around the arena. It was as they were playing this I realised how truly great this song is, the sort of song that will stand the test of time and we’ll look back on as a classic.
They went straight into “Rebellion (Lies)” from there, and at this point I was starting to wonder why they were smashing through their hits early doors, it seemed as though they were trying to please the crowd too early on – I was wrong. The night never slowed and Arcade Fire continued to keep the crowd entertained as they ran through the crowd, jumped about and smashed through hit after hit. It’s crazy how far Arcade Fire have come whilst continuing to make music that they want to make, and I think that’s evident in their performances, even thousands of miles from, they certainly looked at home on the stage.